Are we being forced to go electric?

[cyberknight]

as i work in a body shop of a manufacturer , so we have the press shop and weld shop combined its an interesting video.
1st thing comes to mind is redundancy in the event one of these presses breaks down or needs a scheduled repair as we can swap panel production between presses when needed .Then cost as the base platform design can be modified and joined with other panels from different variants to enable multi model production down the same line , panels shaped to give strength and joined to create an optimal strength /shape/weight combination , tesla might be ahead of the curve with large mould tech and i would be interested to know the properties of the cast alloy compared to a "traditional " uni body construction method.
Finally with the old style method if a quality issue arises its easier to replace a smaller panel than scrap the entire cast panel and the cost of the machinery and resources required to make the new design begs the question of cost of production .

 

[fossyant]

Just looking at some used prices on AT last night, they’re sky high at the moment, great time to sell, not such a good time to buy.

Don't know what you've been looking at but the ones I've seen are very low, half new price at a couple of years old. ICE are more expensive.

 

[fossyant]

Tesla could scoff at all the other legacy manufacturers, using multiple panels to create a chassis, when Tesla use a 'Giga Press' to form huge sections in piece.

Problem with huge panels is repair costs, and high insurance.

 

[Drago]

9 Separate items on the rear inner panel where anyone else uses one. 9 pressings, potentially 9 manufacturers, 9 production process, 9 items to deliver, 9 seperate processes of design, 9 joins to squeak/leak/fail/cause annoyance in some way, 9 different actions required join them together and attach them. Surprised they don't go the while hog and use cast iron rivets.

And that's just a single assembly...

Hardly the cutting edge of vehicle design they're being touted as.

 

[classic33]

No I already have 3 EVs in the family. Next year we'll have 5 over, the move to full family EV ownership.

I thought Fossy might be interested in it, given he expressed interest in the Honda E which has 80 mile range

Your next two in the household could be two of those though.

 

[Gunk]

Don't know what you've been looking at but the ones I've seen are very low, half new price at a couple of years old. ICE are more expensive.

It’s e-golf’s I was looking at, prices are still very high.

ICE used cars are crazy at the moment

 

[cougie uk]

If you add up the weight of petrol used in a cars lifetime and I'd be very surprised it's less than the batteries

Again. There's no need to buy a huge battery car unless you're using it all of the time.
You lug it around town and pay for the purchase.
Or you buy a smaller cheaper battery. Use less energy on the drives you do and once a year you stop for a recharge instead of blasting through.

 

[fossyant]

The Nissan Sakura ev urban MPV for £15,000

Pass, too ugly

 

[CXRAndy]

Your next two in the household could be two of those though.

They could if we were in the market for a city car. I have a classic mini which is my candidate for EV conversion

 

[FishFright]

Again. There's no need to buy a huge battery car unless you're using it all of the time.
You lug it around town and pay for the purchase.
Or you buy a smaller cheaper battery. Use less energy on the drives you do and once a year you stop for a recharge instead of blasting through.

Range or weight is the balance a buyer have to weigh up.

 

[FishFright]

I've just done some very back of fag packet maths and in 10 years at 7000 m/year a middling ICE cars uses around 6.5 tons of petrol.

So is the weight of an EV actually an issue?

 

[Drago]

To be fair, an ICE car doesn't carry the 6.5 tonnes of juice around with them all at the same time.

 

[youngoldbloke]

To be fair, an ICE car doesn't carry the 6.5 tonnes of juice around with them all at the same time.

- and the EV is carrying the whole weight of the battery all of the time, whereas the ICE vehicle is only carrying the conisderably less weight of a full tank for only part of the time - thus the ICEV is generally much lighter than the EV equivalent.

 

[Drago]

And? It's not like we're going to be lifting them or carrying them into shops with us.

 

[Rusty Nails]

So is the weight of an EV actually an issue?

It is if you're hit by one